Two men have been remanded in custody after they pleaded not guilty of stealing a large quantity of cigarettes from a container at Malta Freeport.

Roderick Borg, 32 of Qormi and Sebastian Zammit, 60 of Safi were arraigned in court today, charged with contraband of 10.5 million cigarettes, which carried an excise duty of €2.2 million.

The arrest was made following investigations into the disappearance and return of a container from Malta Freeport.

 It transpires that a container that was  brought to Malta on 24 July was emptied and its contents transferred onto a truck before the container was returned to its original place, sealed. The container was taken out of the Freeport premises and returned back an hour and a half later.